South Sudan Universities: Which Way Forward? "The bottom line is that simply calling an institution a university does not make it one." 06 September 2011
By Dr. Charles Saki Bakheit, (PhD)* GURTONG- At independence most of our neighbours such as Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, all started with only one public university. Even Sudan started with one public university which was the University of Khartoum. Although the system then was considered elitist, it had one thing going for it that was the quality of the graduates being produced. These universities are credited to have produced some of the best African scientists, academics, writers, artists, and professionals of our time. This was because the authorities then made sure that there was enough well paid, and well accommodated qualified staff, drawn from all over the globe. The universities had well developed infrastructure to provide excellent learning, and research environment. After years of independence a country like Uganda, with a population of more than 40 million, has increased the number of its public universities to five only, making sure that these universities came in operation gradually as the need arose, along with the required infrastructure and staff development programmes. The above scenario is in stark contrast to our situation in the new Republic of South Sudan. We have started in a very ambitious manner with 9 public universities, serving a population of about 8 million! Of the nine, five are fully functional; none of which have adequate staffing or the infrastructure to enable them produce the quality of graduates needed to drive the development vehicle of our new country. Even our oldest universities of Juba, Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile, do not as yet resemble universities. Some have argued against the opening of new universities, when the existing ones are still struggling to fulfil their mission and objectives due to shortage of qualified staff and inadequate infrastructure. It was suggested that instead more polytechnics be built while new universities would be opened gradually as the need arises. However, it seemed political correctness and expediency prevailed over common sense, and we now have the nine public universities, and most probably a tenth one is in the pipeline. Now that we have these universities, the question is: what next? Past actions or lack of it by then Interim Government of Southern Sudan, GOSS, have not demonstrated the required level of commitment to education in general and higher education in particular, given that, for instance it allocated only 6% of the annual budget to the education sector in its last budget. Yes, GOSS established the Ministry of Higher Education. Yes the new ministry started on a good footing by organizing a meeting of all stakeholders to help map the way forward for these universities, both old and new. (It must be pointed out however, that the resolutions of that conference have yet to be seen to have been implemented.) Of more serious concern is that, GOSS has failed in a number of ways to show it cares much about higher education. For one its contribution to assist the universities to move from the north to the south was too little too late. Secondly it left the university vice chancellors alone to face Government of Sudan, GOS, in their struggle to transfer the properties and assets of the universities back to the south. Valuable properties of these universities, including important records, vehicles, and equipment have been blocked from being brought to the south, and GOSS has not thrown its weight behind the vice chancellors in their fruitless effort to retrieve them. The backing of GOSS to deal with Khartoum on this particular issue was vital, because the VCs simply do not have the political leverage to use on Khartoum. GOSS action or lack of it contrasts singularly with GOS when we compare the lightening speed with which the latter established a new university in matter of months in Khartoum, using the assets left behind, to absorb the northern students and staff from the southern universities. Yet another lacklustre GOSS performance was the allocation of only 7.4 million SDG to all the 9 universities in the 2011 budget! Just what this meagre amount was to be used for is not clear, as the amount can barely cover the budget for one university, let alone nine. Given the sorry state the southern campuses of these universities are in, one would have expected a lot more money from the 2011 budget. It is to be remarked that GOSS had been extremely generous when it came to renovating its offices, and the residences of its ministers, director generals, buying expensive vehicles for its staff, etc., but for some reasons it did not consider extending such generosity to our universities. It would appear that all these are now going to be behind us if we are to believe what our President has just been saying. We in the education sector are greatly encouraged and relieved to hear the President of the Republic announcing to the first joint sitting of the national legislature at Nyakuron Cultural Centre, on 8th of August 2011, that the first priority of his new government will be education. The President has struck the right note when he said. “No country has ever achieved development without educating its population”. He also pledged his government is “going to build higher education institutions in the coming years”. Is RSS at long last turning a new chapter and is finally placing higher education where it rightly belongs; on its topmost shelf of priorities? The importance of developing our human resources cannot be over-stated. A country that does not invest in its future leaders is doomed. There are many countries in the world whose phenomenal speed of development attests to this. Countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and closely home, Botswana, and Rwanda, have all accelerated their development by investing heavily in education, in their human resources. RSS is well positioned to emulate the feat of these countries if it too puts education its top priority. Yes, we do have very pressing demands in areas such as our health sector, agriculture, roads, security, but when we examine all of these priorities, education underlines all of them. Simply put, without skilled manpower no development can be realized in any of these areas. What is it we need to do for our universities? First we need to invest in the infrastructure of our universities and embark on a massive staff development programme. Right now these institutions lack qualified staff, lecture halls, laboratories, office space for staff, staff accommodation, libraries stocked with up to date books, computing facilities; in short everything. Secondly we need to improve the conditions of service of the academic staff, and provide them the environment that will boost their productivity in terms of teaching, research and community service. The current terms of service for our academics are not competitive enough to attract our brightest to embrace an academic career, while those already in are seeking to move to greener pasture in the civil service and the private sector. Meanwhile, to meet the immediate shortage of staff our universities will need to recruit staff from outside the country. Moreover, at present there are virtually no research activities going on in our universities because they lack the funds, the equipment and even the time or office space to sit and work. You cannot starve a cow and expect it to produce much milk. RSS must also develop the culture of utilizing our academics in consultation activities, areas of public policy analysis, and designing short courses tailored to specific groups and levels. More often governments in developing countries spend millions on foreign consultants who come for only a few weeks and are accommodated in expensive hotels, to do work, (mainly cut and paste reports) that a local consultant could have done even better. Ministers and our local politicians must change their mindset from the I-know-it-all attitude and make use of specialized knowledge of our academics in our universities, to analyze our local situations, and find solutions to our local problems. Such consultations will provide good opportunities for students to benefit from taking part in the studies and analysis that would enable them develop their ability of critical thinking and sharpen their problem solving skills. An important rider is that RSS must endeavour to develop at least the Universities of Juba, Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile to the level of truly national universities that meet international standing in every way, with strong leaning to research. Each of the three universities can be developed to specialize in one or two research areas, where much more resources will be channelled to provide the facilities for doing advance research. Being national in character will also nurture unity in our new nation. Unity will also be consolidated by ensuring that intakes to our universities should allow a student to study anywhere in South Sudan. While it is fine to have so many universities, they should not be substitutes for the establishment of specialized institutes, research centres, colleges and polytechnics. These institutions are the driving forces for industrialization, artisanship, production of middle cadre, and many commercial activities. It is often stated that for every university graduate a country produces there should be at least three middle level graduates from colleges and polytechnics to support him/her. And besides, not everybody needs to have a university education. Naturally, the funding of universities cannot be entirely left to governments. For one, universities themselves will have to device creative and innovative means to generate extra revenues for themselves. In addition parents and guardians must play a major role in the cost of educating their children, and must therefore bear part of the burden as educating ones child is in itself an important family investment. In particular students’ upkeep should be borne by parents/guardians as the students would have been fed and housed by their parents anyway had they not been studying at university. However, given the fact that our communities are by and large still very poor, and our economy is still under-developed, the government will continue for some time to bear the greater burden of funding higher education. One way for the government to assist parents is to introduce a student’s loan scheme for those who need it. The bottom line is that simply calling an institution a university does not make it one. There are benchmarks an institution must attain and maintain to be accepted and recognized worldwide as an institution of higher learning. In most countries university campuses are showcases of modern and indigenous architecture and national pride. As we now proudly take our position among nations, our universities too must be a reflection of our status in the community of nations, and must rise to the international levels of excellence expected of them, these include investing heavily in their infrastructure, demonstrated in the quality of their academic staff and graduates, and nurturing their ability to contribute to the pool of knowledge and human endeavours through research and other scholarly activities such as hosting scientific conferences, etc. RSS must get its priorities right and make sure that our universities are world class in every sense of the word. Our President has talked the talk. Let us hope that this time his words will be translated into action and not remain mere rhetoric. *Dr. Charles Saki Bakheit, (PhD) Formally Secretary for Academic Affairs, University of Juba and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Gurtong Trust-Peace and Media Project. You may post your views in the space provided below. 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